


Three Words Twice Over

by AristocatSlippers



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Blame my mutual renkocchi, Gen, I'm Sorry, she gave me the prompt for it, this is slightly shippy? But not particularly I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13079040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AristocatSlippers/pseuds/AristocatSlippers
Summary: The same phrase passes between Sharon and Break only twice. It's not so bad the first time; then again, time has always had a way of making things hurt more. The second time they say the same words it truly stings.





	Three Words Twice Over

The same phrase passes between Break and Sharon only twice in their lifetimes. The first time Sharon is but a simple, naive child. 

_She watches from the bottom of the tree that he clambers up awkwardly. The cat stranded on a high branch meows fearfully, terrified of falling - as it should be._

_She shouts up at it, "It's okay kitty! Xerxes-niisan will make sure you're safe. He's always looking out for me, so just stay there and wait."_

_The cat just meows back at her, but Break pauses for a moment to look down at her with a grin. She gives him a double thumbs up, her own little good luck spell. Continuing up the tree, he wiggles and shimmies weirdly, hands and feet hugging the trunk. Sharon giggles, he looks like some weird kind of lizard or maybe a koala bear. Not that the two share any similarities. Eventually he reaches the bottommost branch and climbing becomes much easier._

_“You look like a monkey!” she tells him through a fit of giggles._

_Break spares a hand to imitate a monkey, pretends to scratch at an armpit like one. Sharon's face splits in a wide grin. His foot slips and he latches onto the branch for dear life, cutting short his performance. He carefully regains his balance, securing himself on one of the thicker branches. The higher he goes the closer he gets to the cat and the more the tree sways, it makes him feel kind of unsteady, but he's not far now. Sharon tightly ties a knot around the handle of a woven basket. Tugging on it, she checks the knot’s integrity, ties another one just to be certain._

_It amazes Break how high she can throw it, even if it falls just slightly short. So much power in such tiny little arms. He manages to catch it and slings it over the branch that the cat sits on whilst Sharon keeps a hold of the very, very long rope. He crawls warily along it, unflinching when the cat hisses at him. Balancing precariously, he lifts the cat with both hands, gently placing it in the basket. Sharon carefully feeds the rope up, slowly lowering the cat._

_Break watches, holding the top of the rope so that the basket doesn't swing so much that it accidentally flings the cat. If that happened he'd just have to rescue it from somwhere else. When it finally reaches the ground the cat jumps out. It wanders off to a sunnier spot and starts licking itself. He hopes to hell that it doesn't climb another tree. If it does, he swears he won't let Sharon convince him to rescue it again. Shuffling along it, the branch creaks beneath Break - it snaps before he even has a chance to react. He hears Sharon's scream of alarm as he falls._

_Wind whips through his hair, mussing it and leaving his clothes flapping around him. It lasts a brief second, ending as his back slams into the ground. He wheezes, air knocked out of him and the sound muffled by smacking impact. Break allows himself a moment to recover, doesn't bother to get up, he’d rather wallow in his pain for a little bit first. Sharon watches him worriedly, gnawing on her lip in concern when he doesn't move at all._

_Sharon climbs atop his aching chest, in no way helping his struggle to breathe, she shakes his shoulders, “Xerxes-niisan! Are you okay?!” Sharon shouts the words at him._

_Childishly, he clamps his eyes shut and makes his limbs go limp, he schools the grin off his face. She panics at his closed eyes, not knowing what to do, “Don’t die! Please don't die!” her voice cracks as she begins to cry._

_Without thinking, she starts slapping Break’s cheeks, hoping that the sharp sting will bring him back from whatever afterlife he's gone to. He winces and cracks open an eye. Rubbing at his sore red cheeks, Break pushes Sharon off of him and sits up, coughing just a tiny bit. Sharon blinks at him, surprised. Bursting out in uncontrollable sobs, she hugs him, desperately clinging to him._

_“Don't ever do-” Sharon hiccups mid sentence, “-that again!” All of a sudden she switches to pounding her fists against his chest. Break doesn't try to catch her punches._

_He just hugs her close to him and mutters into her hair, “I’m sorry Sharon, I promise never to mess with you like that again.”_

It’s maybe not the best memory to be thinking of at this moment in time, he thinks, there are better things to be paying attention to because the second time they exchange the same words it is far less fun. 

It happens in broad moonlight, just outside the safe orange glow of gas street lamps. Sharon holds tightly to Break’s arm, steadies herself on the cobblestones when she wobbles in her heels. Their footsteps clatter loudly in the empty, late night streets. She takes in a deep breath and sighs wistfully up at the stars. “They're pretty tonight, aren't they Break?” she says. 

He follows her gaze, looks upon hundreds of twinkling specks in the sky, “Yes Ojou-sama.” He responds, voice soft. Neither of them can tear their eyes away from the constellations in the sky as they breathe in the cold night air that fills with mist when it passes their lips. 

“They all have stories to them you know,” Sharon tells him, smiling nearly half as bright as the stars, (for who could match the likeness of a star? They're blinding to look at up close and hers is a face he likes to see.)

“And each of them is different to the next,” he replies. (They've had this conversation before, it always goes like this.)

Sharon agrees, resting her head on his shoulder for a brief second, “Tell me one of their stories?”

Even though he wants to, even though he always loves choosing a myth for her to hear, Break doesn't get the chance to. The man sneaks up behind them. Silent, he gives them no warning until the knife is already around Sharon's neck and the gun pointed at Break’s head. Both raise their arms in surrender, hoping that the event will quickly pass. 

Neither is scared, they don't shake in the slight way the man does as he speaks, “That's good, now, first of all, hand over your wallet.” 

They don't make any move to give him what he wants, it only aggravates the man. “Come on! Just give me it!” he spits the words out at them, lets the knife inch closer to Sharon's throat. 

Break shrugs. “We didn't bring any money with us. We've got nothing to give to you.”

The man stares at them, disbelievingly. The pair find it rather unsurprising given they’d just walked out of a theatre and were dressed in suit and evening gown. Still, Sharon takes advantage of the slight loosening of his grip on her to slip away. His hold tightens when he realises, but all he manages to do is snap the pearl necklace around her neck. Beads go spraying into the air as she dodges away, stumbling just a tiny bit. 

The second she's safely away from the man, Break snaps into action, roundhouse kicking the gun from his hand. It clatters to the ground, ignored when Break punches the man in the face, he smirks, self-satisfied. 

The man's nose drips red. Break steps back, avoiding a punch aimed at him. Belatedly he remembers the gun on the floor and the knife that the man wields. Too late, it's far too late because he doesn't have time to move out of the way. The man steps on the gun, slips falling forward. 

Break doesn't find a knife in his chest. He finds Sharon standing in front of him. He sees the horror on the man's face, sees him run off as Sharon's head tilts downward to look at her chest. 

There's a sudden weight in his arms. He catches Sharon when she collapses, holds her close to him because there's nothing else he can really do. She's quiet clinging to him weakly. 

“I’m sorry, Break,” she whispers to him.

He shakes his head, “There’s nothing to be sorry for, just call Eques, if you can, we'll make sure you're okay back home.”

He wishes his own chain was as useful as Eques. But Mad Hatter is for destroying things from the abyss. And this - this isn't something that Mad Hatter can fix for him. Eques fills their shadows and they fall through it. Landing on the the soft white bed, the light of the room finally gives him a good view of the damage to her (as good a view as his failing eyes can get now anyway, how much longer until he goes blind? Doesn't matter, not right now.)

He tries to ignore the colour staining the sheets and Sharon's skin and clothes, tries to ignore the feeling of warmth running through his fingertips. He jumps up from the bed, panic-stricken and searching the room. Break pulls down a curtain and hovers over Sharon. His hands gently touch the knife that's still there. 

“Is it okay if I do this?” he asks, he knows it will hurt her even if she's been quiet so far. 

“Yes,” Sharon tells him, voice weak but still holding that same authority over him.

He grimaces as he tugs it out, slowly, carefully, muttering, “Please don't die. Please don't die,” over and over again under his breath. 

Yet it’s still not enough to stop Sharon from wincing and crying but to her credit she doesn't scream. He drops the knife immediately, as if it were a hot iron poker burning him, it might as well have been. Sitting her up, he wraps the curtain around her chest in a makeshift bandage. Tight as he can get it, hoping that both pressure and gravity will save her life. 

He runs out the door, leaving it behind him in search of someone who knows what to do. The corridors of the Rainsworth manor are unusually empty, quiet as his feet slam into the ground. He rounds the corner and rams straight into someone. It knocks him over backwards, when he looks up Liam is standing over him. Horror is painted clearly on his face, (it's not a surprise, Break is covered in blood, running away and he can't help the desperation in his eyes.)

“Xerxes! What happened?!” he shouts the worried question at him. 

Break ignores his question, “It’s Sharon. Please, please. I don't know what to do. Please.”

He hopes that Liam understands, that the reason he disappears is to get bandages for her, something that will help, anything. He's hyper aware of the time Liam takes to get back, the single minute lost is still too much to him. Still, Liam holds a first aid kit upon his return. Break leads him down the corridor, takes him back to Sharon and wildly hopes that she’ll be okay. 

He slams the wooden door open in his hurry, ignores the loud bang that doesn't startle Sharon at all. Liam pales at the sight of blood around her, the mark on the makeshift bandage is terrifyingly large. Paler still is Sharon, she doesn't move at all and when Break touches her arm it's cold, far too cold. He refuses to accept what it means. Refusing only gets him so far because Liam is feeling for a pulse. He knows by the way that Liam stills that he doesn't find one, or if he does it's too weak for any hope. 

Liam leaves the room quietly, but Break can still hear the sobs that he doesn't quite catch before they manage to escape. He doesn't follow him out and he doesn't cry either. Sinking to the ground in defeat, Break stares at Sharon in shock. He doesn't want to believe it, won't believe it. Can't he go back and change it again? Maybe it will work this time, it should work, it has to work. Numbly, he stands up and stumbles his way to the bed she lies on. He can't keep denying it now. When he looks at her he knows that he can't. 

The tears make their way out of his eyes of their own accord, just the same as the sobbing cries that rack his body and make him shake. He gives up on trying to stop them, gives up on trying to hold himself up as if it were okay, it hurts far too much and saps him of all his fake strength.

She always told him not to throw his life away. He didn't expect that she would throw away hers.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, I imagine you loved this angst please blame my evil tumblr mutual for sending in the prompt for it. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
